


Hyuk's Other Mother

by kyaappucino



Series: The Cha-Jung Household [8]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Original Female Character - Freeform, Surrogacy, implied kissing (for parents), more PG than anything, technically minor because she's a surrogate but still important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 19:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6579598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyaappucino/pseuds/kyaappucino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this AU, Hyuk has a surrogate mother that he hasn't seen before--and with good reason. When Hyuk spots a certain date on the family calendar, he finally gets to meet her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hyuk's Other Mother

 

 

Twice a year, Hyuk gets dressed and buys flowers with his father. It started when he was eight years old, and had pointed to the calendar that hung on a hook, in the kitchen. Hyuk was seated on a stool facing the island counter, drinking a glass of milk, while his father prepared breakfast. For a time, the only sounds he could hear was a fork mixing the eggs and pancake mix together. The scent hung in the air, sweet and heavy. When Hyuk’s eyes happened to land on the calendar, he was curious—December 15 has a red circle around it, but no event. Instead, there was a tiny golden star in the center of the circle.

“What’s that, appa?” Hyuk asks, putting down his empty milk glass. Drinking without a sippy cup still felt a bit strange, but he felt more like a grown up this way. Taekwoon, however was busy spooning pancake batter into the buttered pan and said softly, “What are you looking at, Hyogie?” he asks absently, flipping a pancake over once the bubbles started to appear in the dough.

Hyuk looked at his appa, tall and strong, wearing his sleek black apron. “The calendar. What’s happening on December 15?” When his father turned around to face him, it was the first time he had ever seen his father grow so pale. At first, his father says nothing and continues to flip pancake after pancake until he had a neat stack of them on a white plate. The stove is turned off, and the stack of pancakes is placed on the dining table.

Hyuk knows that his father isn’t ignoring him—just gathering his thoughts together. After what seemed to be an eternity, he kneels so that he is eye level with Hyuk and says softly, “Appa goes to see your other mother on that date, Hyogie.”

A confused look sweeps across Hyuk’s face, milky white like his father. He blinks, and Taekwoon sees his eyelashes, long and lush set against a pair of eyes that weren’t like his own.

He sees so much of Ji Soo in Hyuk, it’s almost as if she’d never left.

“But eomma is upstairs, isn’t he?”

Taekwoon inhales a shaky breath and tries to keep himself together. His first thought is to lie to Hyuk, because there are some things that young children just aren’t meant to know. But at the same time, he didn’t want to lie and have to dig himself out of a hole later on.

“Okay Hyogie. Appa will tell you a secret. Are you ready?” Again he saw Ji Soo’s brown eyes blink curiously at him, and it hurts his chest so badly he has to hold onto the dining table to stop himself from crying. He was sorely tempted to call his husband–but found himself saying in a voice that was much steadier than he felt, “Well Hyogie. Your eomma and I are both boys, right?”

He nodded, and had felt like that was unusual, especially when he saw his friends and classmates getting picked up by their mothers. The people they called mother were all soft and beautiful, sweet-smelling and wore pretty dresses.

The person whom Hyuk called mother was also soft and sweet-smelling, but wore suits and pants. When he told his classmates this, he’d been asked who his father was.

The moment he had replied “Jung Taekwoon,” half of the kids in class wanted to be his friend. It wasn’t every day you had the son of a “Hit maker” music producer as a classmate, after all.

When he’d told Taekwoon about it, his father had laughed out loud.

★

“Well…two boys can’t have a baby. We looked for a kind lady who would carry you for us, in her tummy.”

Hyuk was silent for a moment and Taekwoon knew it was because he was thinking. That was one of the things he had been able to pass onto all of his children: to think before they spoke, but out of everybody it was usually Hongbin or Hyuk who remembered to.

“What’s her name?”

Taekwoon was starting to feel very uncomfortable, and he really wished Hakyeon would go downstairs. He sucked in a deep breath and waited, but no luck. He’d remembered that Hakyeon was busy upstairs, talking to Ken.

“Her name … her name’s Ji Soo. Appa used to like her before eomma.” It had been a comfortable love, convenient during high school. She was his best friend but when they figured out that she wanted more than just kisses while he wanted only cuddles, it was the beginning of the end.

“Don’t be a stranger, Taek.” She’d told him not to delete her number from his cell phone, and they had kept in touch.

★ 

Ji Soo was the first one who’d gotten the news when Taekwoon realized he was in love with Hakyeon, even before he considered telling his parents. He remembered her smile, wide and soft, reaching all the way up to her eyes.

She had been beautiful, and he considered himself lucky she was on the list of surrogate mothers. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Ji Soo. He had loved her deeply, but in the end, they had wanted the same things at different times.

There were things he preferred not to think about when he thought about Ji Soo, of her strong temper and her impatience. She often took Taekwoon’s silence as acquiescence rather than him just thinking of what to say.

“Oh. Is she pretty?”

Taekwoon smiled sadly. “Very pretty. You got her eyes, so you’re proof that she’s pretty, Hyogie. Do you…want to meet her?”

Hyuk thought about it, thought long and hard. Taekwoon sat next to his son, wondering if this was the proper thing to do. He still didn’t want to outright lie to his youngest child–god knows what Hakyeon could be telling Ken right now.

“Yes.” Hyuk’s voice broke through Taekwoon’s reverie and he sighed. He knew he had to tell Hyuk about her sooner or later—just…not this soon. Fate was strange, Taekwoon mused, as he took a fork into the lukewarm pancakes and cut himself a bite. He and Hakyeon hoped to tell their youngest son the truth when he grew a little older, but…obviously, fate had other plans.

In the name of good parenting, he hoped that he was responding to fate the right way. It was better than lying and telling Hyuk that he’d appeared in a bundle of lettuce, or that the stork had brought him there, right?

“All right. Let’s go upstairs and get your coat, Hyogie.” When his son didn’t follow immediately, Taekwoon added, “we need to buy her flowers first, Hyogie—it’s only polite to bring flowers when you visit a lady.”

★

Taekwoon carefully checks Hyuk’s coat, making sure it’s buttoned all the way up. His son is a tiny mirror image of himself, dressed in all black—Taekwoon sincerely had no idea where Hakyeon had managed to find a tiny black beanie for Hyuk’s head, but he was glad for it. 

“Woonie?” Hakyeon’s voice echoed through the hallway.

“Here, Yeonnie,” Taekwoon replies, and when Hyuk sees his mother, Hakyeon looks extremely curious, and kneels down so that he’s eye level with his son. 

“And where are you going today, Hyogie?” Hyuk smiles happily and says, “We’re gonna buy flowers! Appa said I had another eomma, and we’re gonna visit her today.” Hakyeon schools his face into a neutral expression and he pats Hyuk’s plump, white cheek affectionately. “Well, you better hurry with appa so you can get the best flowers.”

Hyuk looks a little worried, and asks, “You’re not coming with us, eomma?” But Hakyeon had already slipped out of the room, the only indication that he had ever been there was the flutter of his white sleeping shirt, the small white corner peeking out of Hyuk’s bedroom door.

“Wait for me here, Hyogie.” His father leaves his room and then he thinks he hears the words “…pretend to be his only mom,” alongside a little wet noise, as if someone was crying. “Don’t even joke about that…” But it was so soft, he could have been mistaken. He bites down the impulse to jump from his bed and run to his parents for about a few seconds. He holds onto his stuffed lion for courage and jumps down, nearly slipping on the smooth wooden floor on his socked feet.

“Eomma? Appa?” He saw his mom leaning on the wall beside his room, and his father was pressed close to him, murmuring something into his ear. Instinctively, he lifts the stuffed lion to his eyes and cries out, “I didn’t see anything!”

That earns a laugh from both of his parents, and Hakyeon embraces him tightly. He knows because his mom always smells of candy, and he smells it through his stuffed lion’s fur. 

“We weren’t doing anything, Hyogie. Appa was just talking to me about your other mom. Are you going to take Leo with you to meet her?”

Hyuk thinks about it, and nods, his face pressed to Leo’s fur. The stuffed lion’s mane was soft and smelled of conditioner, and he thought his other mom may like it. “She’s not scared of lions, is she?”

Hakyeon smiled and whispered in Hyuk’s ear, “Well, your appa is sometimes like a lion, and she liked him. I’m sure she’ll like Leo, too.” That made Hyuk feel much better, and he started to wriggle so that Hakyeon would let him go. 

Hyuk put down his stuffed lion, holding it by its left paw. The rest of it dragged onto the floor and he said quietly, “I love you because you’re here with us all the time. Don’t die, okay?”

Hakyeon looked a little worried and said softly, “I love you too Hyogie. Eomma doesn’t want to die too early either—I need to stop you from getting married, after all!” But what really surprises him is when Hyuk presses a kiss to Hakyeon’s cheek and hugs him for a while. “Don’t be sad, ok? You’ll always be my favorite eomma.” Hyuk didn’t see the happy tears that threatened to slide down Hakyeon’s cheeks, and he didn’t see Taekwoon wipe them away with his thumb, smiling all the while.

“Thank you baby.” Hakyeon whispers into Hyuk’s hair, and he thinks that it’s all right to be nice to eomma. Sometimes.

Maybe he’d do it again for Christmas.

★ 

As Hyuk trudges to the garage, he reaches for his seatbelt and buckles himself in the passenger seat, waiting for his father, stuffed lion in hand. He sees his mother appear in the doorway, hands wrapped around a white ceramic cup.

He looks away as his father also comes into view, and the last thing he sees is his mother turning to the side before he turns away and focuses instead on the grey garage wall. It’s always a bit gross to see their parents being…well, gross.

Hyuk waits until his dad goes into the driver’s seat before giving him the stink eye, and Taekwoon chuckles as he looks at Hyuk from the rearview mirror. “You’ll be gross too someday, Hyukkie.” The answer from the passenger seat was a resounding “Father, could you NOT?” and Hyuk’s pink tongue, stuck out in indignation.

Taekwoon smiled and started up the car, and Hyuk watches as Hakyeon slowly disappears from view as the garage door is closed.  

★ 

“Good morning and welcome to Love Equation, where we’ll find the perfect arrangement for any occasion!” The sales attendant said cheerfully. It wasn’t the biggest flower shop in the city, but it was well-known and had parking space. Hyuk glances at the entire place, teeming with pots full of colorful blossoms, each having their own sweet scent.

“Yes…could I get a bouquet of white lilies and dark crimson roses please?” Taekwoon knows exactly what he was going to order and the sales attendant nodded. “Perfect timing, sir. Our florists just finished pruning the thorns off of the roses a few hours ago. I’m sure your wife will love it.” The sales attendant notices Hyuk standing there, small and unsure with his large lion plush toy and smiles down at him.

“Late wife,” Taekwoon murmurs quietly, not wanting to explain the complications about his marriage and getting a surrogate in order to have children. He receives a swift, embarrassed apology (as well as condolences) from the sales attendant who melted away into the back of the store, getting the flowers ready. For what seemed to be the nth time that day, Hyuk sees the small, sad smile on his father’s face and wonders what was causing it. Why did appa say late? Were they supposed to meet earlier? Were his appa and his other eomma fighting?

Before he decides that he wants to ask Taekwoon this question, the sales attendant comes back and hands him a bouquet of white lilies, dotted with deep, dark crimson roses. He hears his father sigh deeply, and he couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. After he hears the ‘click’ of Taekwoon’s own seatbelt (the bouquet of flowers were seated in Hyuk’s lap, smelling fresh and pretty) Hyuk asks, “Appa?”

Takewoon’s hand is about to turn the key in the ignition, but stops and turns to his son. “Yes, Hyogie?”

“Why did you say ‘late wife’ to the lady earlier? Is she on her way too?”

“Ah…no, Hyogie. She’s already there.”

Hyuk looked at the flowers, at his father’s sad face, and thought about what happened this morning. Leo, his stuffed lion was in the backseat. His little face was set into serious thinking mode, a small frown settling onto his lips. After a few moments of gathering his thoughts, he asked quietly, “Appa…is my other eomma…dead?”

Relief and fear came together that day. “How do you know what ‘dead’ is, Hyogie?” Taekwoon asked, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. It was a good thing that they hadn’t left the parking lot yet.

Hyuk breathed out a puff of cold air, sounding offended. “Duh, dad. Ken-hyung and I watch Naruto! Lots of people die there.”

Taekwoon considered this for a long while, and nodded. “Yes, she’s dead. She was going to your first birthday party…even stopped by a shop to buy flowers. But…there was a driver who crashed into the shop she was in, and…” Taekwoon bit his lip, let out a shaky breath and tried to calm himself down before he answered Hyuk. “…she was gone.”

Hyuk turned to his dad, who had his head bowed as he spoke, tiny drops of water falling onto his pants. From the passenger seat, Hyuk’s small hand reached on over to gently brush onto his father’s, settling on top of Taekwoon’s big hand. They stayed like that for a while before Taekwoon dried his tears, turned on the ignition and they continued their drive.

★

Ji Soo had always believed in eternity—so when her parents saw an advertisement for Eternity Cemetery, they had their daughter buried in it. Taekwoon had felt a sense of extreme irony when he read the tagline: “You’re not here, but everything’s the same.” it was etched in bronze, neatly placed on the right side of the red-brick wall. The words “Eternity” hung over the gate and the music producer parked the car beneath the shade of a large tree. It was now 11:00am, and there were very few people visiting this Thursday.  

Hyuk had given his father the flowers, and he was back to holding Leo _. Quite a sight we must make,_ Taekwoon thought fondly, A grown man wearing a black parka, black skinny jeans, black combat boots and a black beanie covering his black hair. Skin pale as milk, with lips red as blood, holding out a bouquet of somber flowers. Next to him was his son, a tiny vision in black—clad in a black parka, black pants, and black boots with a black cat-ear beanie hiding his black hair.

He’d had no doubt that genetically, Hyuk was his child.

They stopped in front of a black marble headstone. On it, printed neatly in white were the words “Park, Ji Soo. 1990 ~ 2015. Beloved friend and mother.” Taekwoon brushes away some snow and says softly, “Hello, Ji Soo. I brought Hyuk today…he wanted to see you.” The bouquet is delicately placed against the gravestone, and Hyuk walks forward, bringing Leo with him.

“Hi, eomma…” The Cha-Jung household’s youngest son smiled and held out his stuffed lion. “This is Leo. He’s my best friend.”

“Ji Soo…he’s eight years old today. I’m sorry it took so long for me to bring him. Hakyeon says hi, too. He hopes that everything’s all right where you are. We brought your favorite flowers…” Taekwoon says quietly, as he was on the ground, leaning on his good knee. _It looks good_ , Taekwoon thinks. The image of the flowers reflected against the headstone seemed to give off a slight sparkle in the morning sunlight.

“You love me, right?” Hyuk says in a song-song voice, and Taekwoon is struck with a burst of inspiration. He files it away for later, as he and his son stand in front of the grave, their eyes filled with some unreadable emotion. He doesn’t cry, but then again—Taekwoon’s cried enough for the both of them.

★

Twice a year, Hyuk visits Love Equation Flower Shop with his father, and buys a bouquet of flowers for Ji Soo. 

The flowers are always the same, white lilies dotted with deep crimson roses. Hyuk, thirteen years old now, chooses a different arrangement. The next time he and his father place Ji Soo's bouquet on her headstone, Hyuk places a small basket on it--and beside the bouquet, is a little stuffed lion.

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a drabble, but it just turned into a full-blown fic. Just wanted to get to know little Hyuk in this one. = w = can you tell I love referencing Vixx's Eternity? Haha.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this one ^^ (albeit it is a bit sad, but don't worry--I'll release some happier ones soon.)


End file.
